News

Parkland trauma team has long history of caring for those in need

Recognized as a world renowned leader

May 15, 2019

For more than three decades Parkland Health & Hospital System has been recognized for its Level I trauma care. The staff of the Rees-Jones Trauma Center at Parkland stands ready 24/7 to treat patients who are transported via ground and air ambulance with potentially life-threatening injuries.

“The one thing about a traumatic injury is that it can happen to anyone at any time. Trauma doesn’t discriminate based on age, ethnicity or financial status,” said Jorie Klein, RN, Parkland’s Senior Director of Trauma, Emergency Department and Urgent Care Emergency Center. “That’s why it’s so important to have a trauma center with highly-skilled professionals who can treat a patient who presents with any type of injury.”

Parkland’s trauma team is among the employees celebrating the system’s 125th anniversary during the month of May. Parkland, which became Texas’ first Level I trauma center in 1988, saw 11,388 trauma activations in fiscal year 2018. Of those patients, the majority were treated for falls, motor vehicle crashes and assaults, among others.

Throughout its storied history Parkland’s trauma team has risen to the challenge of caring for those in need. Among the most memorable events:

August 2, 1985 – It was another blistering day of triple-digit heat in Dallas. Delta Air Lines Flight 191 traveling from Ft. Lauderdale was seconds away from landing when Mother Nature unleashed an invisible killer. A severe thunderstorm with high winds hit the plane from behind, smacking it to the ground and running it across a highway before it plowed into two water towers and burst into flames. Including the motorist, 137 people died; 29 survived. Parkland treated 21 patients from the crash.

August 31, 1988 – Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 between Dallas-Fort Worth and Salt Lake City crashed during takeoff, killing 14 of the 108 people on board, and injuring 76 others. Authorities transported most of the survivors to Parkland. In addition to caring for the injured, hundreds answered Parkland’s blood center’s call for donors. The line to donate was blocks long.

April 19, 1993 –Three inpatients thrust Parkland again into the national spotlight – one man, one woman and a teenager arrived by helicopter from the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) set up visible security as officers were stationed in and around the hospital as helicopters arrived from Waco.

August 23, 2005 – Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history slammed into Louisiana. With thousands of people fleeing the path of the storm and making their way to Dallas, Parkland’s Trauma and Homeless Outreach Medical Services (HOMES) staff set up a make-shift hospital in the former Reunion Arena.

September 18, 2005 – Coming on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita made landfall in areas of Louisiana and Mississippi already ravaged by the August storm. Parkland continued to staff a 24/7 medical facility in the former Reunion Arena. Thousands of storm refugees temporarily and in some cases permanently relocated in North Texas.

April 12, 2013 – At least two people were killed and more than 40 hospitalized when a charter bus carrying mostly senior citizens to a casino in Oklahoma hit a concrete barrier and flipped. Several of the crash victims were taken to Parkland’s renowned trauma center.

April 17, 2013 – An ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, 18 miles north of Waco, while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire at the facility. Fifteen people were killed, more than 160 were injured, and more than 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Parkland treated patients who were transported via ground ambulance.

2016 – A person with a life-threatening injury from a car crash or a gunshot wound can bleed to death in three minutes. On average, it takes five to eight minutes for paramedics to respond to a 911 call. But thanks to staff of the Rees-Jones Trauma Center at Parkland, community members are taught how to recognize life-threatening bleeding and administer appropriate medical treatment before professional rescuers arrive. Parkland’s Stop the Bleed classes were adapted from courses including the U.S. Military’s Tactical Combat Casualty Care Guidelines and the Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) course and a part of a large, United States Government effort to make “Stop the Bleed” training the CPR of the 21st century. To date, more than 11,300 individuals have been trained to control bleeding until EMS arrives.

July 7, 2016 – The day began like every other summer day in Dallas, but it would end much differently. Shortly before nightfall, following what had been a peaceful Black Lives Matter-organized protest in downtown Dallas, gunfire from a lone assailant rang out. By the time it was over, five police officers were dead and another nine injured. Two civilians were also wounded. The shooting was the deadliest incident for U.S. law enforcement since the terroristic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Parkland Memorial Hospital received seven of the victims.